I would imagine it was harder to get information on topics as you would’ve had to buy/borrow encyclopedias to do.
Were there proprietary predecessor websites?
Tell me about the dark ages!
I would imagine it was harder to get information on topics as you would’ve had to buy/borrow encyclopedias to do.
Were there proprietary predecessor websites?
Tell me about the dark ages!
I grew up in the 90s, so we had Encarta for most of the time I needed an encyclopedia.
It also wasn’t uncommon to have a (partial) set of encyclopedias. You could buy them, one or more volumes at a time, over the phone or occasionally from door-to-door salespeople. We had an old set from the 60s that we inherited from my grandmother.
“The big book of answers” as it was (jokingly) referred to in my childhood home. It was kept near the dinner table to settle arguments. It never settled them
We also had a world book encyclopedia from the 1950s that I used for my elementary school projects in the 90’s. Very occasionally I’d notice something or of date, but overall it was fine.
I re read the entry on “lightning” and the half-page about “tornadoes” I don’t know how many times. And it was fun to flip through a random volume looking for good pictures.
I don’t remember what publisher made the ones we inherited from grandma. I recognize World Book, but I can’t say that’s what they were. I’m not sure if those old encyclopedias are still floating around somewhere in the family or if whoever had them last finally got rid of them.
A lot of the info in them was definitely still solid, agree.